Release: Exclusive access Myanmar

Doha, 20 November 2006 – Al Jazeera English today aired exclusive news footage of Naypidaw in Myanmar – formerly Burma – and a high level interview with the Minister of Information, Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan.

Al Jazeera English was granted exclusive access to Naypidaw – a first for a foreign broadcaster. The team filmed the former capital, Yangon, and Naypidaw where news presenter Veronica Pedrosa interviewed the Minister of Information. Independent reporters are very rarely allowed into the country.

The interview ranged from Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention, the roadmap to democracy, the move to Naypidaw, insurgencies around the country, and the effect of sanctions and the lack of aid to Myanmar’s people.

Al Jazeera English language channel’s world news exclusive comes within the channel’s first week of broadcasting: Al Jazeera English launched last Wednesday, 15th November 2006.

About Al Jazeera EnglishAl Jazeera English is the world’s first English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. Broadcasting from within the Middle East, looking outwards, Al Jazeera English will set the news agenda and act as a bridge between cultures. With unique access as the channel of reference for Middle East events, and broadcast centres strategically placed around the world in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC, Al Jazeera English will balance the information flow from South to North, providing accurate, impartial and objective news for a global audience from a grass roots level, giving voice to different perspectives from under-reported regions around the world.

Al Jazeera English is building on the ground-breaking heritage of its sister Arab-language channel – Al Jazeera, which was responsible for changing the face of news within the Middle East, now extending that fresh perspective from regional to global.

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